Gucci with Gap: house renovation equivalent

[Umnitsa]

When doing up a house with finite resources, what items / types of work have to be "gold standard" and where would a decent value alternative suffice? I'd think it is similar to selecting what to wear: one can look polished in a tailored Armani suit with an Asos top. So if the aspiration is elegant home, what should one splurge and skimp on?

An often sited example is to use IKEA carcasses for the kitchen and wardrobes and to put higher quality doors and countertop. Anything else?

Does it matter whether invisible bits like electrics and plumbing are top of the market? (I don't even know if there is a Lagerfeld equivalent of pipework. Probably some German super-engineered solution?)

What elements add instant luxurious feel to an otherwise ordinary room? (I do not mean furniture and ornaments but fixtures and finishes of the house - floors, wall paint, ceiling cornicing, marble fireplace etc.)

Views?

I'm always rather dubious about the idea of using cheap carcasses and expensive doors and countertops for a house you're living in. I think it may look good on the surface, but will start to fail quicker than higher quality carcasses. Try going into B&Q and wobbling the kitchen drawers.

Ikea kitchen carcasses are generally said to be good quality - we weren't impressed by their wardrobe carcasses, though.

Our decorator is very big on absolutely perfect preparation of surfaces before painting - that might be something that makes a major difference. We'll see when he's done the room!

Interesting, GrendelsMum. I also wonder how long the kitchen will look good in the cheap carcass + expensive door compromise.

Have no clue about building works but intuitively your decorator's advice makes perfect sense. (It's like ensuring a groomed look by having radiant skin, not piling on make up).

The way to save money isn't so much on the paint/cables etc but by (a) knowing exactly what you want, what is feasible and sticking to it so nothing has to be redone(b) being able to read a quote and negotiate on that (how much labour is involved, does the overall price seem inflated on that basis, how could the job be simplified). I'd always use the best "invisible" fixtures you can afford because, if there's a risk of something cheaper being less reliable, you don't want to be pulling up floorboards, chasing into walls to repair it.

In terms of what gives a luxurious feel I would agree with Grendel that it's good finishing - reinstatement of original features if appropriate (you can buy original fireplaces for a song on ebay), making sure the paintwork is very crisp, flooring goes under the skirting boards rather than any wooden finishing beading, tiling has been fitted neatly around obstacles etc etc etc.

Thank you Lalalonglegs. It seems the only way to save money is to be sensible and do homework really well to avoid changes and nasty surprises.

Would you say that choosing whether to spend more money on more expensive materials or better qualified builders, hiring the best builders would deliver better results even with cheap materials?

The cost of builders is not necessarily linked to their workmanship tbh. I had an Ikea kitchen fitted which a friend of mine who is a cabinet-maker recommended and it looked great. It depends on how long you want things to last really - if you want it to look good for a quick sale, you can go cheap but designery looking (B&Q is good for that). If you want something that is going to look good for any length of time then spend the money. I'd splash the cash on floors and taps. Basic sanitaryware can look fine but shit taps look crap very very quickly.

Same with good quality wood floors vs cheap ones.

Thank you LadyBiscuit. It is not to tart up a property for a sale but to renovate the house we consider buying (and most likely staying in for a while), so I am after lasting quality and classical look rather than a "60 minutes makeover".

Of course, in the ideal world we would use top of the range materials and hire the best builders, but realistically I know they will be trade-offs and we will need to prioritise ruthlessly. That's why I appreciate your views as it helps me to understand where we could compromise without losing the overall quality.

Okay well in that case, scrimp on sanitary ware and splash out on taps (I put a £250 tap into my Ikea kitchen), go for top quality cheaper products (again Ikea 'expensive' stuff is actually pretty good quality).

With wood floors, buy the best you can afford and lay as much as you can afford. You can put strips across doorways to join up two pieces of wood. Crucial is that if you're going to (eventually) get the whole of the ground floor laid that you get the planks going in the right direction from the start. It's easier to join if you are working in the same direction as the doors but think about the look you're trying to achieve. It's worth getting a proper floor layer because they have a special machine that takes the base off skirting boards rather than having to rip them off.

You can get great stuff in sales/ends of line. Check out places online and locally and keep an eye on them. I had Grohe taps in my bathroom but from a line they were discontinuing so they were hugely reduced. I bought them ages before I actually had the bathroom replaced. Have your builder build you bathroom casing in MDF - much cheaper than premade and you can have it painted to match the walls.

Go big - bigger mirrors/lightfittings/pictures than you think a room warrants make everything look more grander than it really is.

I think I've run out of tips now :o

Wow, that's really useful!

I wholeheartedly embrace the principle of getting good stuff in sales (and really look forward to the challenge of finding all these amazing bargains).

Great tip re getting big things for a grander look.

:) Oh another thing I just remembered - if you buy very expensive tiles from Fired Earth but in the sale and you think you're getting a bargain, remember that you might need to buy sealant and you will have to buy adhesive and grout (you need adhesive if you get massive tiles). The adhesive, grout and sealant for my beautiful marble 'bargain' tiles cost as much as they did.

And you really don't have to do everything at once. Chuck down crap bits of carpet offcuts to see you through getting the floors done. But cheap flooring/bodge plastering/horrid taps are a false economy.

My top advice would be to get the builders to do some small jobs and check what sort of results you get. Also, I think the mark of a good builder is tidying up when they leave at the end of the day regardless of whether they know if I'll be on site or not.

Good plasterer is worth his weight in gold. Ditto good carpet fitters. And prep is really important for painters - they should be spending about 2/3rds of their time on the prep.

Things I really wouldn't spend the money on again: handmade cornice. Rip the whole lot down and start over, the hassle is just not worth it!

Oh, I so agree on both NorthernGirl's tips. The small jobs idea is a winner (we've done this, and it has made a massive difference). I also agree entirely on the tidying up business. It's the mark of a professional. My carpenter even apologised for having come out without his own window cleaner and asked to borrow some to clean my windows after he'd finished. Compare that to crappy assistant plasterer (sacked with swearing by chief plasterer when he came down and saw what was done) who got great dobs of plaster across my windows and left them there.

LadyBiscuit - presumably you would have bought sealant and grout for other tiles as well? Or Fired Earth tiles required specific more expensive products?

NorthernGirl - thank you for the insight. We are considering conducting a tender and awarding the contract for all main works to one company. Would you still ask them to start with small jobs, almost like a probation period? Or when you deal with a biggish firm (rather than individual tradesmen) there is more guarantee that they will deliver good results and let them plan the works in the sequence that makes sense to them? (total novice here.)

Re: handmade cornicing, do you mean rip the whole lot down and install pre-fabricated cornicing?

Oh yeah - and don't be afraid to fire their butts if they don't do exactly as you ask. I used to put up with all their bizarre excuses about why such and such couldn't be done (usually it involved too much hassle for them!) and now I just won't let them in unless they agree to do it my way. I have a pair of doors in my kitchen which stand testimont to this - I let the joiner talk me into doing it his way and it bugs me on a daily basis....

If you are thinking of getting carpets, then go to carpetright or high street for carpet, but then buy the underlay and gripper online which is much cheaper (this is where carpetright try to offset the cost of the cheap carpet with expensive trimmings). And above all DO NOT GET THEIR FITTERS - pay 2 or 3 times more to get your own fitters as the shop fitters are paid a pittance and do an awful job because they have to lay about 4 or 5 carpets per day to make a living wage.

The Fired Earth tiles were unbelievably heavy (they were travertine) and they tell you that you have to use their sealant so I was too scared to use another one. I did buy adhesive and grout from an online tiling supply company but the adhesive was a lot more than I expected (I've just checked my spreadsheet and the tiles were £600 but the adhesive/grout/sealant came to £150).

And there's another tip - set up an excel spreadsheet for all your costs with a separate sheet for each room and then you can keep a beady eye on costs.

Don't believe Carpetrite are cheaper - they have all the appearances of being a bargain shop with all their heavy discounting but in reality even after discounting they were more expensive than John Lewis - who employ decent fitters.

I agree with having the basics done really well .Buy the very best quality flooring you can afford and pay more for good plasterers and electricians.I don't think its necessary to specify high-tec lighting unless your home is a modern masterpiece.Its a good idea to check how builders do with small jobs.However if your are putting out your job for tender and it is a large job, by the very nature, large firms probably won't want to do small jobs.Also as i'm currently finding out, some builders are very good at small jobs but no good at organising larger builds.Do install a high pressurised water system and update boiler and radiators.When it comes to decoration buy one really stunning item for each room - be it furniture or lighting or wallpaper and accessorise cheaply.My thing is antique lighting so every room has a mixture of french rise and fall or chandeliers in copper but i mix them with bog standard spot lights.

Ebay is your friend! Set up automatic search notifications for items and brands you want and need, then buy them as they come up, you'll get amazing quality stuff at silly prices if you watch carefully.

Cable and pipes are pretty standard (except for network cable), so spend on the visible bits (lightswitches, taps, etc).

With tradesmen, recommendations are best if you know other people who have had work done recently. Much better to pay for a good job done once than a bodger to have to keep coming back and making a mess.

I always spend money on things that you touch on a regular basis,taps,light switches,door handles.You can tell the difference in quality between cheap handles and solid decent ones immediately.

It is worth going onto the 'Screwfix' website and checking out the 'trade chat' boards.They offer a wealth of info on what products/companies tradesmen rate and also what they charge for certain jobs.

If you can,it is worth asking your joiner if he can get doors/wood products for you at trade prices,rather than sticking a wodge on top.We were lucky in that we had an independent guy fit our kitchen last year and did a stunning job,we paid up on time,were considerate employers ect and he is now here again fitting our bathroom.He has got new doors from Howdens for us at their trade prices and we have paid half of what the 'book price' is.Consequently we are replacing all the doors now,as we can afford to at those prices.

If you are anywhere in the East midlands,I can recommend tilers,carpenters,kitchen,bathroom fitters,plumbers,plasterers,electricians and flooring suppliers/fitters.All have worked on our house and been great.

Thank you all for the insights, this is incredibly helpful.

Mirage - excellent advice to check Screwfix for intelligence gathering. Thank you for offering to refer tradesmen, I am in London though.

AyeAyeCapn - very good advice re automatic ebay search. (Why haven't I done it?!! It's embarrassing how much time and money I've been spending on e-bay lately, I could've done it far more efficiently.)

Teta - love the idea of a one statement piece in a room.

Jane10b, pinkcushion - thank you for advice re carpets. I'd rather have wooden floors throughout but chances are we may end up putting carpets upstairs.

So, collective wisdom says:

• Think things through thoroughly to avoid changes mid-project as this will drain the resources. Keep a spreadsheet for all costs with worksheets for each room.
• Start builders with small jobs to test quality.
• Money should be spent on preparation works and quality finishes; good floors; things one touches (taps, switches etc).
• Best electrician, plasterer, carpet fitter one can afford.
• Sanitary ware, kitchen carcasses, wardrobe carcasses can be cheaper. Find a good joiner.
• At least one amazing item in each room. Bigger ornaments / pictures / furniture make room feel grander.

-Look for discontinued and sale products but beware of associated hidden costs. Ebay.

Anything else?